By Elizabeth Tertadian
A 2006 study estimates that nonprofit organizations will require approximately 78,000 new senior managers in 2016 alone. With this in mind, UP's Pamplin School of Business hopes its new Executive MBA in Nonprofit Management will help provide local nonprofit organizations more highly skilled leaders ready to take over as senior executives retire.
The program's creation was in response to requests from Portland's nonprofit community, which expressed a need for a program focused on nonprofit management. UP will be the fourth university in Oregon to offer a nonprofit management program, joining University of Oregon, Portland State University and Southern Oregon University. The UP program begins next fall, and is designed for executives already working in the nonprofit sector.
Money is always a concern for nonprofits, and the challenge of replacing retiring senior managers to address that concern is a looming obstacle for many of organizations. UP's program targets those already working in the nonprofit sector, who wish to learn how to better manage a nonprofit.
According to Howard Feldman, associate dean and director of the business graduate program, the skills needed to run a nonprofit are similar to those needed to run a for-profit organization.
"A nonprofit business is nothing more than a business with a heart," Feldman said.
"I think that a graduate program is a great idea," said freshman Megan House, an organizational communication studies major. "It's great that UP is recognizing this growing interest and creating a program that will help students best utilize their resources and make the biggest impact."
Each year there are a number of UP graduates who decide to work for a nonprofit organization, according to Feldman. These students now have the opportunity to return to UP to receive further education specifically targeting nonprofit management.
Although there are few undergraduate classes at UP that include nonprofit work, Marketing Management, a class taught by business professor Mark Ritter, allows students to work with a nonprofit in Portland by creating a marketing plan for them, and is one of the few classes that give students hands on experience in the field.
House hopes to be an executive director of a local non-profit working with the environment or with immigration, and decided to take Ritter's class to get hands-on experience in the field. She has worked with various nonprofits, including her own "Project Backpack," where she worked closely with the nonprofit organization Loaves and Fishes to collect hygiene items, coats and backpacks for low-income immigrants and the homeless. It was through her experience with Loaves and Fishes that she became inspired to work in the nonprofit sector.
"I'm very interested in the graduate program and I think that it's a natural fit here at UP where service is such a big part of our campus identity," said House. "It's another way that UP can help me become the person I want to be."
While it may not seem to be the ideal time for a new graduate program considering the economy, Feldman believes this is the right time. The University is giving grants to qualified students to cover 50 percent of the tuition costs, making the program financially achievable and attractive. A number of informational sessions will be held, starting on Feb. 16.
"We anticipate it starting small, but it will grow," said Feldman.
Currently, there is no nonprofit management undergraduate major available to students, but that does not mean that there will never be one. Depending on how the graduate program goes, an undergraduate program might compliment it well, according to Feldman.
"This university has a particularly unique student body for which a nonprofit major would lend itself especially well I think," he said.
